Think tank urges road tax scrapping

Proposals to replace car tax with tradeable shares have been announced by a think tank.

The Social Market Foundation (SMF) wants to change all England's major routes into toll roads, with drivers paying 10p per mile to use them.

Think tank officials said taxpayers, rather than the Treasury, would be given ownership of the routes and a £1,500 voucher which could be traded on the stockmarket.

The report, Roads to Recovery, said that, in addition to the voucher, motorists would be £75 a year better off under the scheme.

SMF director Ian Mulheirn said: "Road charging shouldn't benefit the Government or big business. Instead every citizen should be made a shareholder of the roads so that they benefit from any profits from road charging."